Legend Design Technology, Inc.

MemChar™ and SpiceCut™

IP characterization and critical-path circuit simulation for deep-submicron IC designs

Product Description
MemChar™ has been developed to automate all processes in the flow, including simulation and optimization. For high-performance designs in the area of networking and communication, memory IP characterization is especially useful with its unique capability of performing on-chip embedded memory characterization. While SpiceCut™ creates a small equivalent circuit for Spice simulation by removing the redundancy array, builds Bi-section models for setup/hold time and minimum clock width, segments word line / bit line loading with multiplier for reducing circuit size and performs AWE RC reduction. Both MemChar™ and SpiceCut™ have been qualified on 0.13um technologies by our customers.

MemChar™
The input to MemChar is a layout-extracted Spice netlist, the output is timing and power models like Synopsys™.LIB' file. Major applications are:

• Technology Porting or Re-Targeting
• Building timing/power models of Memory Compiler
• Post-silicon Yield Improvement or Debugging, and
• Characterizing 'memory instances' for performances, with Synopsys '.lib' models generated

SpiceCut™

Major applications are:

• Post-layout verification of high performance memory designs
• Characterization and simulation of embedded memory
• QA and debugging

Benefits to End User of Product and Interface to MGC
Combining Legend Design Technology’s solution within Mentor’s core framework tools (Eldo™ and MachTA™), it provides a seamless integration for memory designers to use mentor’s front/back end tools for memory designs.

• Automation
  • Provide 'push-button' instance characterization
  • Integrate seamlessly to existing flow
• Performance
  • Extract 'Critical-path' circuit for characterization
  • Perform AWE based RC reduction
• Accuracy
  • Keep 'entirety' from layout-extracted circuit data

Company Background
Legend Design Technology, Inc. was found in late 1996. The company’s mission is to deliver the solution, EDA software and services in accurate circuit simulation for VLSI/ULSI, for IP characterization /verification and foundry/technology porting. It recently got $5 million first-round funding from several venture capitalists, and some highly regarded professionals in semiconductor and electronic design automation (EDA) industries. Currently, Legend has more than 40 customers worldwide, including a number of first-tier accounts. To forge strong ties with semiconductor foundries, Legend has newly formed Legend Design Technology - Taiwan, Inc.

Description of Integration

Platforms Supported

Distribution and Contact Information